Eating along the 2 line: Wall St. on the cheap with food trucks

By RACHEL WHARTON

|NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Jul 19, 2015 | 2:00 AM

MANY WOULD say the very best place for lunch in the Financial District is a few blocks west of the 2 train stop at Wall St. That's where nearly two dozen food trucks gather each day on the street in between Hanover Square and Old Slip Park, both of which offer outdoor seating. Here are four worth visiting.

Italian heroes

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Run by Staten Island native Adam Disilvestro, the bright red DiSO's Italian Sandwich Society truck has earned scores of fans for sandwiches with witty names like the Big Pauly (a chicken parm made with real Parmigiano-Reggiano; a hero is $10.50) or the Eddie Mush, which features a slab of soft, fresh mozzarella, marinated peppers and mortadella studded with pistachios. (It's $7.50 when served on a wedge of roasted-tomato focaccia.)

Disilvestro used to spend his lunch hours on the other side of a lunch cart until three years ago, when he decided to leave his job in online advertising and marketing and go into food. His goal, he says, was to serve "real authentic Italian" ingredients like the provolone, herbed ricotta and a trio of cured meats that comes in the Joey Shakes ($11.50 for a hero).

Just be sure to call or check Twitter before you head for the truck, as it occasionally parks in Midtown.

Formerly a real restaurant on Stone St. in the Financial District, the Urban Lobster Shack is now a mobile fleet that includes a full-sized truck and the tiny red cart often found on Hanover Square.

Best-sellers include their regular lobster roll in a buttered and grilled bun ($13 with mayonnaise, $15 with butter and lemon juice). Or you can have a sandwich made with one of seven special sauces for $14 (examples include jalapeño, wasabi and garlic scampi) or mashed avocado for $16.

Sides like home-made potato chips or potato salad with lemon and dill are $4.

Urban Lobster Shack: Hanover Sq. near Water St.; (917) 658-7176

All in the condiments

The purple Desi Express truck is known for its generous $5.99 and $7.99 Indian lunch combos, which you can tweak to your liking. Choose one or two entrees from a range of options — maybe chicken tikka masala, the mix of potato and green peas called aloo matar, or fried fish battered in chickpea flour and served under a spicy curry sauce — and it comes with rice and an array of flavorings like yogurt sauce, cilantro-mint sauce, tamarind sauce, raw onion and green chilies.

The latter all star in an even lower-cost lunch option, the samosa chaat: A fried vegetable and potato-filled dumpling is smashed and covered with curried chickpeas and the condiments described above for just $5. Add a warm piece of the flatbread called naan for $1.

Desi Express: Hanover Sq. between Water and Pearl Sts.; no phone

Please note: Food truck location subject to change.

Korean coma

The joke behind the name of the year-old Fud-Hi cart is that their Korean-inflected dishes — the work of Culinary Institute of America graduate Jinwon Kim — will put you into a food coma.

You might want to reconsider any post-lunch presentations after a bowl of crispy fried chicken cutlet over vegetable-flecked rice with "special sauce" and white kimchi, a traditional version of the fermented cabbage made without the fiery-red chili paste ($9).

Another filling Fud-Hi favorite is the kalbi burger, which you can order as a combo with fries and a drink for $8.50. Dressed with tomato, lettuce and kimchi, it's inspired by the marinated short ribs called kalbi that are a classic at Korean barbecue restaurants.